Balance of Souls: Deterioration
Part 1 "Why hello there", echoed the voice of Xiang Yu as if in greeting to the two Sternritter that had just appeared out of the Silbern's main gates. "I didn't think we'd be getting carolers in the middle of Spring", replied Roshan rather nonchalantly. Vitor couldn't help but let out a sigh in exasperation at his superior's response. "A multi-layered defensive line", the woman had continued unperturbed. "It might have worked, but Mamoru here is a tad indestructible, as your friend here quickly found out", her hand waved out over Anders' body lying slumped before the pair of Balancers. "S'alright, I think we're ready now", Roshan stated, cutting out his typical need for vague analogues. His hands removed themselves from his pockets, with one of them reaching for the sheath that held his favoured weapon over his shoulder. "I'm leaving this in your capable hands, Mamoru", said Yu before a burst of Shunpo flighted her away to a location where she could better observe the clash that was about to take place. The giant man gazed at her for a while with his head turned slightly to the back, his face expression arcane. Then, he faced the two Sternrittern directly. "Mamoru Nakatani, the Marshal of South", he introduced himself to Vitor with a polite bow. As he straightened up, his sight moved to the Quincy Regent. "We meet again, Roshan Bamshad-dono", he said. "I owe you an explanation for my poor performance during our first encounter." "Poor performance? Last I checked, we all went kaboom", the man shrugged using only his shoulders. "I gave it a rather weak showin' m'self, so maybe we'll both put on a better show for the kids this time", he continued, his body drawing into an exaggerated but serious stance, only for it to fall apart in the next moment. "Oh yeah!", he called out rather loudly. "This is Vitor, a friend a' mine", he stated, his free hand pointing to the diminutive figure that Mamoru had previously bowed to. "Vitor Zeferino, Sternritter L", his hoarse voice rung with indignation. "Pleased to meet you", replied Nakatani. "The jewellery I wear", he said abruptly, once again staring at Roshan. He lifted his right hand to show a golden bracelet with an embedded sapphire. Numerous other pieces with dark blue gemstones were adorning his body. "An ornament, a family heirloom and insignia of my rank", he continued, rotating his forearm to glance at the bracelet himself. "Little more than a disguise for its function." He made a brief pause to let the meaning of those words be processed. Since there was no response, he resumed shortly afterward. "Every single member of the Detention Corps is equipped with such a set of "jewellery". The device, designed by my Father, serves to seal off foreign Reiatsu and protect my subordinates from the adverse effects of Hell's Miasma. A welcome side effect is that the field created by the device hampers most Reiatsu-based forms of attack, yet it is far from a reliable means of defence in that regard. However, the set I wear is different." With that being said he finally lowered his hand and looked at the two Sternrittern who faced him. His stance changed slightly, his legs positioned slightly wider and arms hanging to the sides. Suddenly, there was a mild gust of wind. The air around Mamoru began undulating as he was enveloped by a lime aura of energy. "My device was specifically altered...", he said. Although his face expression remained listless, melancholic even, the shroud of spiritual pressure was expanding slowly but surely, now emanating an audible hum. "... to seal off my Reiatsu", he finished. At last, his face contorted in a frown of strenuous effort. His body tensed and its imposing muscles bulged out as he flexed them. While still contained to a very limited area, his spiritual pressure was growing ever more intense. The faint glow of the aura changed into a bedazzling light and currents of electrified spiritual energy began wrapping themselves around his giant body. All sapphires embedded in his jewellery shone brightly. And then, as they all cracked and shattered into dust, an explosion-like shockwave burst forth from Nakatani's body and swept up the unconscious Anders, casting him somewhere into the distance. The two men instinctively threw up a hand in order to protect themselves from the ensuing shockwave, though their hands remained open enough to allow them to percieve their opponent through it. In spite of the power that the Balancer had been presented, both of them remained unhindered by the presence of Mamoru's Reiatsu. "I guess we're lucky you never showed this off 'n the Human World, pal", Roshan started rather amused by the whole thing. "There wouldn't be enough Reishi for miles to help us stand up to you", for once he hadn't been exaggerating for effect, the power radiating from the Balancer was clear to Roshan, and he, of all people, knew how limited Reishi was in the World of the Living. "Kinda funny, huh? How your home turf benefits us best", he went on as his body began to project a similar aura, his own a deep Persian shade of green. On either of his flanks, a pillar of ice fractured and crumbled, broken down into spiritual atoms that the regent's body quickly absorbed. "But, as thanks for that tidbit, big guy, lemme tell you one a' mine", Roshan had shrugged once again, this time drawing his free arm into the mix. A small sigh escaped him and his eyes closed as if he was dredging up old memories. Once he had finished collecting himself, his eyes opened to regard Mamoru once again. "Y'see, I'm technically Ritter M, but its purely symbolic, I don't have any fancy powers like the rest of 'em, maybe Yhwach was being poetic, I dunno, but it left me with... we'll call it, a degree of variability", surprisingly his words clung to the air clearly despite his drawing of Seele Wyrger, the powerful humming of the saw-like spiritual sword sitting just low enough that the man's speech remained hearable. Vitor then tapped his cane repeatedly against the stone floor beneath them. "Right, go ahead", Roshan answered his unspoken question to the tune of a pair of glinting blue lights visible on the ears of both men. "Warriors of the Wandenreich, we are faced with a most trying battle, forced to fight long dead relics while the very fabric of our world falls apart", a grin formed on the old man's face as he spoke, readily aware of how ironic it would seem to fellow Humans to be calling anything a relic. "At the front stands our regent, Roshan Bamshad. We know him to be crude, unkempt, and oft times, a downright bastard of a man", the elderly figure's words caused Roshan's demeanour to falter for a second, reacting rather hurt by the short analysis of his personality. "But, he fights for all of us, so I ask that you help him, just this once, to eke out a victory worthy of those who carried us to the Seireitei. Let him be among those to carry us to the Reiōkyū, I ask that you cheer him on now, in this fight!", the hoarseness of Vitor's voice broke somewhat, becoming clearer with each moment that he continued on, though his voice remained deep it came across as more active than its usual aged tone. "Roshan, last of the Bamshad line, I bestow upon you the Holy Letter S", he chanted, his body bathed in its own lime-green aura that passed over Roshan for a moment, just in time for him to utter the words forming on his lips. "The Superstar!" There was no reaction, no dramatic change. Instead everything became still, with beads of sweat visible on both men's faces making it clear that it was not the intended effect. Then it started, a faint murmur in the background that quickly grew like wildfire into a repeating chant echoing from the halls of the ice palace behind them. The chants of the Quincy reaching to them, a more localized call also broadcasting in the ears of both Sternritter through their earpieces. Roshan's body suddenly bulked up, the top parts of his uniform almost exploding off of him as they shredded away. He was on Mamoru immediately, Seele Wyrger lazily held in his right hand whilst his muscular fist tore through the wind with incredible strength and speed aimed at the Balancer's face. The punch appeared to connect - the inhuman impetus it carried caused the pavement to virtually explode and a potent gust of wind to sweep across the area like a hurricane. However, the Marshal was not there. Bamshad did not notice that Nakatani had moved mere moments before he leapt at him, just as he did not notice the Balancer placing one hand on the pommel of his Jiūkǔndao during the peculiar ceremony which had preceded the manoeuvre. For even though Mamoru Nakatani seemed to be a listless, dull brute, those traits were but a mask, and his outward composure extended far, far deeper than the qualities concealing his true nature. The Marshal had suspected that simply removing his restraints would not be enough to secure a victory against the enemy leader. Consequently, he had Mugilyeog prepared for just such an occasion. Its illusion-type ability not only let him evade a potentially crippling blow, but also move beside the elderly Quincy with a single Shunpo step that would not have had the chance to occur otherwise. There was no time to analyse the strange transformation Bamshad had undergone just yet. For now, Mamoru knew that the Sternritter L had orchestrated that very transformation, and whilst he did not appear to present any other immediate threat, he knew far too well how deceiving looks could be. Thus, within the split second that Roshan was thinking that he had scored a hit, Nakatani drew one of his hook swords and swung it at Vitor from behind. The old man was unable to react in time, his head hadn't even moved in Mamoru's direction, making it unclear if he had even registered the Marshal's movement. It mattered little though as the blades cut through him cleanly. Blood exploded from out of a wound encompassing his body before the top half of the man slid forward, sloughing off of the lower half to collapse on the floor. At the same time, Mamoru became surrounded by several levitating axes that had begun descending on them and just out of sight, Roshan had caught up, Seele Wyrger lapping up Reishi as it sawed through them on its way to slice at the Balancer. Part 2 45th Eastern Rukongai, Kanekane